Swine flu affects campus

University officials are almost sure swine flu has arrived at MSU, but it’s impossible to tell how many people have been infected with the virus because it is so common officials don’t test for it.

Marcus Cheathum, spokesman for the Ingham County Health Department, said MSU, along with Ingham County and the majority of hospitals and counties nationwide, does not test for the virus because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, does not recommend it. According to the CDC’s Web site, the illness is mild and those who think they have it usually do not need medical attention, so testing is an unneeded expense.

“We expect about 100 million Americans to get it this year,” Cheathum said. “So if you imagine the expense of 100 million tests being processed by laboratory information systems, it’s a lot. It’s a mild disease, so for the majority of people, it wouldn’t change the treatment.”

Although there has been no testing, Olin Health Center Communications and Planning Coordinator Kathi Braunlich said, students have been coming into Olin with symptoms of flu-like illnesses, which include the H1N1 virus. Olin and MSU will receive stores of H1N1 vaccines and begin vaccinating students sometime in November, she said.

Jason Cody, a university spokesman, said MSU has seen an average number of cases of sicknesses with flu-like symptoms this year.

MSU requested more vaccines than any other body in Ingham County, Cheathum said. But because of multiple shipments that could contain varying amounts of the vaccine, officials are unsure how much the university will receive, Braunlich said. However, she said she expects to be able to vaccinate all students who meet the risk criteria — almost every student on campus.

“(The vaccine) is designed for anyone under 24, or those with chronic health issues, or for those who are with those at high risk,” she said.

“That is a huge percentage of the student population, so we want to have the vaccine available for everyone that would need it.”

Geography graduate student Carolyn Fish, who also is a teaching assistant, said she believes she contracted H1N1 last week. After feeling ill the morning of Oct. 12, Fish went to Lansing Urgent Care, 505 N. Clippert St., in Lansing, where she tested negative for influenza. Ruling out the possibility of the common flu, Fish said her doctor told her the symptoms she experienced were similar to the H1N1 virus.

“They weren’t 100 percent sure that it was (H1N1), but (the doctor) was pretty sure, in terms of the symptoms I was having,” Fish said.

Cheathum, who said he believes he contracted the virus for a short while earlier this month, said many people are carriers of the illness, but don’t know it.

“Ninety-five percent of people coming in (to hospitals) with flu-like symptoms are … H1N1 (carriers),” he said.

Both Cheathum and Fish said they experienced a fever and the regular symptoms associated with the flu.

Fish said she never had been sick like she was with the possible H1N1 and her symptoms lasted almost a week.

“The body aches were just the weirdest thing,” Fish said. “It felt like I had gone to the gym hard-core Sunday night, but I hadn’t done anything.”

Cheathum said those who think they are sick with H1N1 should treat it as they would treat the common flu and consult medical help in extreme cases.